Host Palms

The weevil’s “favourite trees” are Phoenix canariensis (Canary Island Date Palm) and Phoenix dactylifera (Date Palm) – but they’ll attack other palms too. Environmentalist Antonio Lambe has become quite an expert on Red Palm Weevil in the Algarve – even advising his local Silves Town Council on how to tackle the pest, and helping scientists in the US build up a DNA database on the weevil as it progresses across the globe.

Lambe has managed to identify a total of 40 species that can be infected by the beetle, as well as two non-palm hosts. The list, so far, is as follows, but he tells us, it is liable to grow over time: